Laura Lee Hope - Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue on an Auto Tour

L >> Laura Lee Hope >> Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue on an Auto Tour

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The man said he would, and then, as he went back to the farm, the big
auto started off on the tour again. There were yet many miles to go, and
many more adventures were in store for Bunny Brown and his sister Sue.

"We've got to find that missing Fred Ward," said Bunny. "It's funny
where he went, isn't it?"

"Well, this country is a big place, especially if a person wants to
hide," said Mr. Brown. "Still we may find some trace of Fred in Portland
when we get there. But that will not be for some weeks, as we are
traveling slowly."

The Browns and Uncle Tad found the auto tour so pleasant that it was
decided to make the trip even longer than at first planned, which would
put off the time when they would reach Portland.

For two more days they traveled on, stopping each night near some
village or small city. Nothing happened except that once they nearly ran
into a hay wagon that did not get out of the way in time.

"But it wouldn't hurt any more to hit a hay wagon than it would be to
fall into a feather bed," said Bunny.

It was just about supper time. Bunny and Sue were playing out in front
of the automobile, while Mrs. Brown was getting supper. Sue suddenly
called:

"Oh, look at Dix! He's chasing a cat!"

Something big and gray flashed over the ground. Dix ran for it, and his
teeth seemed to close on one of the hind legs of the animal. Then the
gray animal ran up a tree, and Dix raced about at the foot, barking and
whining, while Splash left the place where he was rolling on the grass,
to come to see what the matter was.

CHAPTER XIV

THE MEDICINE SHOW

Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue ran toward the tree up which Dix had
chased the gray creature. The dog was greatly excited, and at once
Splash joined in, too. Though it is very likely Splash did not in the
least know what he was barking at.

Dogs are like that, you know. When one hears another bark it will join
in, and then will come a third and maybe a fourth until every dog in the
block is barking, and only the first one may know why, and perhaps even
he does not.

"Oh, I hope he didn't hurt that pussy," said Sue.

"Maybe it wasn't a pussy," suggested Bunny.

"What makes you say that?" demanded Sue. "Didn't you see something gray
run across the grass, and didn't Dix run after it?"

"Yes. And the gray thing ran up a tree. But maybe it wasn't a kittie,"
said Bunny, shaking his head to show he did not agree with his sister.

"Let's go and see what it is," said she, and together the two hurried
faster than ever toward the tree at the bottom of which Dix and Splash
were having a great barking time.

"Where are you going?" asked Mrs. Brown.

"Just over to this tree," answered Bunny, pointing to it.

"Well, don't go any farther than that," warned his mother.

"No, we're just going to see what it was Dix chased up into it," went on
Sue. "I said it was a cat but Bunny says----"

"I don't say what it is yet!" interrupted her brother. "I want to see it
first."

They reached the tree, and the two dogs were so interested in looking up
and barking at something in it that they paid little attention to the
children. Dix actually stepped on Sue's feet and nearly made her fall
down, while Splash tried to jump over Bunny's head. But the dog did not
quite do it, and fell on Bunny instead, knocking him down.

"Oh, Bunny, are you hurt?" cried Sue.

"No, I guess not--much," answered Bunny slowly. "But I'm all--mussed
up!" and he looked at Splash, who was again rushing toward the boy, not
so much with the idea of playing with him as of getting nearer to the
tree so he could bark at the gray animal.

"Down, Splash! Down!" cried Bunny sharply, and the dogs at once stopped
barking. They had learned to mind the little boy.

Both dogs looked up into the tree and whined. It was just the way dogs
do who are in the habit of chasing cats, and who make this noise,
perhaps to show how sorry they are that they cannot get at the poor
pussies to roll them over in the grass.

But Dix and Splash were not what one could call cat-chasing dogs. True,
they had done it when they were small dogs, just over being puppies,
but, of late years, Splash had given up that fun, and what little the
children had seen of Dix they had not noticed him chasing cats.

"That's what makes me think it isn't a cat they've got up that tree
now," said Bunny, speaking of cat-chasing to his sister.

"But it _looked_ like a cat," said she.

The dogs were quieter now, though they both kept on peering up into the
tree and whining softly, though they did not jump about so hard and try
to leap over Bunny and Sue.

"Oh, I see it!" suddenly exclaimed Sue.

"See what?" asked Bunny.

"The cat--the gray thing--whatever it was ran up the tree," and Sue
pointed her finger to the crotch where one of the lowest big branches
joined the trunk.

"There it is!" went on the little girl. "See it, Bunny? And it is gray.
But it doesn't really _look_ like a cat."

Bunny came and stood beside Sue. He could see the gray animal now, and
as it moved just then, the dogs set up another wild barking.

"Be still!" ordered Bunny. Then, as the dog's cries were less noisy he
said: "Why, Sue, I know what that is. It's a----"

And just then the gray animal fell out of the tree, landing on a pile of
leaves at the very feet of the children.

With barks and howls the two dogs made a dive for it. I do not really
believe they meant to bite it--they just wanted to see what it was. But
Bunny was too quick for them.

With a sudden motion he caught up the gray animal and held it close to
him. At the same time he shouted:

"Down, Splash! Down, Dix! Don't dare try to get this poor little
squirrel. One of you has hurt its leg anyhow--that's why it fell out of
the tree."

"Oh, Bunny! Is it really and truly a squirrel?" asked Sue, excitedly.

"That's what it is," said her brother. "It's a big gray squirrel. It
does look something like a cat, but its tail is bigger than a cat's
except when a cat is being chased by a dog."

"I saw the big tail," explained Sue, "and that's why I thought maybe it
was a cat. A cat's tail always swells up like a long balloon whenever it
sees a dog. But is the squirrel hurt, Bunny?"

"I guess Dix must have bit it a little on one leg," said the boy, as he
looked at the gray animal which did not try to get away or bite. "That's
why it couldn't go up any higher in the tree or hold fast any longer.
Its leg is hurt. I'm going to take it to Uncle Tad. He knows how to fix
hurt animals."

Bunny could feel the heart of the frightened squirrel beating very hard,
and the little animal seemed to shrink closer to the boy, as though it
knew it would be taken care of. Dix and Splash bounded about, now and
then leaping up against Bunny as though they wanted to get the squirrel
away from him.

But Bunny stood firm, and cried "Down, sir!" in such sharp tones that
the dogs knew they must mind. They gave up the hope of getting the
squirrel (that is, if they knew it was such an animal) and ran off to
have a game of "tag" together.

"Dix knew it wasn't a cat as soon as he saw it," explained Bunny to Sue
as they walked back toward the big auto, Bunny carrying the injured
squirrel, one of whose legs seemed broken. "Dix knew it was a wild
animal," went on the little boy, "and that's why he chased it."

"I'm glad he didn't get it," murmured Sue, softly.

"So am I," replied her brother. "We'll get Uncle Tad to fix the sore
leg, and then we'll make a cage and keep the squirrel. Some day we may
get up another circus, and we could have it do tricks."

"Don't you think the squirrel would rather be in the woods?" asked Sue,
as she looked at the gray creature.

"Well, maybe yes," agreed Bunny. "After we have it in the circus a while
we'll let it go. 'Member how we played circus, Sue?"

"I guess I do! We had lots of fun, didn't we?"

"We did!"

From across the fields came a call:

"Come to supper, children!"

"We're coming, Momsie!" shouted Bunny.

"And we're bringing a squirrel to supper too!" added Sue, who always
liked to be counted in on everything.

"A squirrel!" exclaimed Uncle Tad when he saw the gray creature that
had fallen out of the tree. "Where did you get it?"

The children told what had happened, and Uncle Tad looked at the
squirrel's leg.

"Can you fix it, or make him a new wooden leg?" asked Sue.

Uncle Tad looked the squirrel over carefully. The woodland animal did
not seem to mind being handled. It seemed to know it was in the hands of
friends, and safe from the barking dogs. And though wild squirrels
quickly bite one who manages to catch them alive in the woods, this one
did not offer to nip the hands of the children or of Uncle Tad.

"Yes," said Uncle Tad after a bit, "I think I can mend this squirrel's
leg. It doesn't seem to be broken, only strained and bruised. I guess
Dix didn't bite it very hard. I'll make some splints, or little sticks,
to put on, so the squirrel can't move his leg, and I'll bandage it. Then
it will get well quicker."

A little box, filled with straw and soft rags, was made as a home for
the squirrel after Uncle Tad had bound up its leg. Then Bunny and Sue
finally went to supper, after having been called several times. And even
then they could not leave the little squirrel, but ran back every now
and then to look at it, as it curled up on the soft bed. Over the box
was put a wire cover so the squirrel could not get out and so Dix or
Splash could not get at it.

"What are we going to give the squirrel to eat?" asked Bunny, when he
had finished his supper. "He's got to have something to eat."

"And he's got to have a name," added Sue. "We can't call him just
'squirrel' for we may get another."

"Call him Fluffy," suggested Mother Brown. "His tail is so soft and
fluffs out so beautifully."

"Fluffy is a good name," decided Bunny, and Sue said the same thing.

"But what about giving him something to eat?" asked Bunny.

"Bread soaked in milk will do for to-night," said Uncle Tad. "Afterward
we'll try to find him some nuts, though it's a little early. Still he'll
eat seeds and grain."

Bunny and Sue took a last look at Fluffy, the squirrel, before they went
to their bunks that night. Dix and Splash were called in and shown the
squirrel in his little nest. Then Mr. Brown told both dogs sharply and
solemnly that they must not bother the gray, woodland creature. Dix and
Splash understood, I think, for they were smart dogs.

Both children were up early the next morning to see their new pet, and
they fed Fluffy some dried crackers. At first the squirrel was a bit
timid, but it soon poked its sharp nose and mouth out of a little
opening on the side of the wire netting over the box and ate from the
hands of Bunny and Sue.

"Don't let him bite you," said Mother Brown, as she started to get
breakfast.

"Oh, Fluffy won't bite," said Bunny. "He's as tame as our cat used to
be."

Once more the automobile traveled on. It rained part of the day but the
shower was not a hard one, though Bunny and Sue had to stay in the big
car when noon came, and dinner could not be served out-of-doors.

But the skies cleared before night, and when the auto was stopped the
children could run about with their rubbers on. They were near a small
town, and Mrs. Brown promised to take the children in after the meal to
see if they could buy some grain or seeds for Fluffy.

The supper was an early one, and, leaving Uncle Tad at the "Ark" with
the two dogs and the squirrel, Mr. and Mrs. Brown, with the two children
walked into town. As they reached the middle of the village, near a
public square, they heard the sound of music and saw a crowd of people
around a wagon lighted by a gasolene torch, such as is used in a circus
at night.

"Oh, it's a medicine show!" cried Mrs. Brown, as she saw a big,
long-haired man on the back platform of a wagon, holding up a bottle
about which he was talking to the people.

"Yes, and there's a banjo player with him," said Bunny. "Look, Mother!
It's a colored boy playing a banjo! Maybe it's Fred Ward!"

CHAPTER XV

WAS IT FRED?

"What's this? What's this you're talking about?" suddenly asked Mr.
Brown, as he heard what Bunny said. Or rather, Bunny's father did not
hear exactly, for he had been thinking about something else. But he had
caught the name Fred Ward.

"Bunny thinks that colored banjo player with that medicine show may be
Fred Ward," said Mrs. Brown. "Do you think it would be of any use to
inquire, Daddy?"

"Why, that _is_ a medicine show, isn't it!" exclaimed Mr. Brown, as
though he saw it for the first time. "And it's just like the one we
heard about that had a boy banjo player with it."

"There's a boy banjo player now," said Bunny. "He's going to play,
Daddy, too! Do you think it could be Fred?"

The man who was selling the bottles of medicine, after telling the
people how much good it would do them, had stopped to let the boy
traveling with him play the banjo.

There are, or there used to be, many such traveling medicine shows.
Sometimes there would be a whole troop of Indians, some real and some
make-believe, that would be engaged by the seller of the medicine. He
would have the Indians do some of their queer dances and then, when a
crowd had collected, he would sell some medicine--maybe some he said the
Indians made themselves.

Another medicine seller would go about with a gaily painted wagon,
carrying a cornet player, a singer or a banjoist to attract a crowd. And
when the men and women were gathered about the end of the wagon, which
had a broad platform on the end and a flaring gasolene torch at night,
the man would tell about his medicine and sell all he could.

This traveling medicine show which Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue saw
was like those. And, just as the Browns reached the place in the village
square where the torch on the wagon was burning, the man had finished
selling a large number of bottles of medicine. It was about time he
amused the crowd again, he thought. So he called in a loud voice:

"Now, ladies and gentlemen, while I am getting out of my storeroom some
more bottles of my wonderful medicine that will cure all your pains and
aches, I will have my friend here, Professor Rombodno Prosondo entertain
you on his magical banjo. Professor Rombodno Prosondo, I might say, is
the most wonderful player on the banjo you have ever heard. He has
traveled all over the world and played in every country. Professor, you
will now oblige!"

Of course what the medicine man said about the banjo player was only a
joke, and the people knew that. He was not a professor at all. But he
was a good banjo player and a singer, and Bunny and Sue were delighted
with the music. The songs, too, were funny.

"He sings like a real colored boy," said Sue.

"Maybe he is," her father observed.

"Yes, and maybe he's only blacked up, like most of them," suggested Mrs.
Brown. "Can you tell if he looks anything like Fred Ward, Daddy?"

"No, I can't be sure that he does," said Mr. Brown. "I never saw much of
the missing boy, you know; and I certainly would not know him if he were
blackened like a negro. This one, if he is not really colored, is well
made-up. He would fool almost any one."

"Is there any way we could find out?" asked Mrs. Brown. "We ought to do
all we can to find Fred for his parents."

"I'll see what I can do after the exhibition is over," promised Mr.
Brown. "I'll ask the proprietor of the medicine wagon if I can get a
chance. But I'll have to do it when the banjo player can't hear, for in
case he should be Fred--which I hardly think can be true--but if it
should be he, and he heard me asking, he'd run away again."

"Yes, I suppose he would," said Mrs. Brown with a sigh. "Oh, how foolish
boys are sometimes. They don't know what is good for them," and she
looked at Bunny, as if wondering if the time would ever come when he
would not be a "mother's boy." She hoped not.

"Let's get up as close as we can," said Bunny. "Maybe if it's Fred we
can tell, no matter if he is blacked up like a minstrel."

"He doesn't look at all like Fred to me," said Sue. "He looks so funny
with his big red lips and his white collar."

"That's the way they all dress," said Bunny. "Come on, here's a place we
can squeeze through and see better."

Bunny wiggled his way up among the people. His sister followed him, and
Mr. and Mrs. Brown, watching the children, knew where to find them when
they wanted to go away.

"Now take a good look," whispered Sue to Bunny, as they got very near
the platform on which the boy sat. She had made her whisper rather loud,
and it came at just the time when the banjoist stopped playing, so that
he and several persons heard the little girl.

"What's the matter?" asked one man, smiling down at Sue. "Didn't you
ever see a minstrel before?"

"Yes, I did," said Sue. "But maybe not this one."

"Oh, they're all alike," said the man, but Sue paid no more attention
to him, for she was nudging Bunny and trying to get him to look at the
colored boy.

Bunny himself was greatly interested. He wanted to make sure whether or
not the player were Fred. So he stared with all his might at the
banjoist, who just then began another song.

By this time the medicine man had come out on the platform of his wagon
with more filled bottles to sell. He would begin as soon as the song was
finished, for more people had gathered, attracted by the music.

And then Bunny and Sue both noticed that the colored boy was looking
straight at them. But he did not seem to know them. And surely, if it
had been Fred Ward he would have known the Brown children, even though
he had lived next door to them only a short time. People did not easily
forget Bunny Brown and his Sister Sue, once they had met them.

But this banjo player evidently did not know them; or, if he did, he was
not going to let it be known. He finished his song with a twang of the
banjo strings and then hurried inside the wagon, the sides of which were
of wood, like a small moving van.

Then the man began selling his medicine again, talking a great deal
about it while he did so.

Mrs. Brown turned to her husband and said:

"I'm sure that was a white boy blacked up to look like a negro, and he
does it very well, too. Even his voice is like a colored person's. But
as he turned to go back into the wagon his sleeve slipped up and I saw
that his arm was white."

"Very likely he was made up as a colored boy then," said Mr. Brown. "His
lips were too red for a real colored boy's."

"Well, since we are sure of that let's ask the medicine man about him,"
went on Mrs. Brown.

"All right, I'm willing," said Mr. Brown good-naturedly. "We'll wait
until the show is over though."

The medicine man kept on selling bottles. It was getting later now, and
the crowd began to thin out. Seeing this the medicine man announced
there would be no more music or sales that night, but that he would stop
in this town on his next trip.

The flaring lamp was put out, and the medicine man began to close up his
wagon for the night. Mr. Brown stepped up to him. The real or pretended
colored boy was not in sight.

"I'd like to ask you a question," said Mr. Brown to the traveling
medicine seller.

"About my wonderful pain destroyer?" asked "Dr. Perry," as he called
himself.

"No. About that young banjo player you have with you."

"Oh, you mean Professor Rombodno Prosondo?"

"Yes," and Mr. Brown smiled. "I want to know if he is Fred Ward, who has
run away from his home next door to us?"

[Illustration: "NOW TAKE A GOOD LOOK," WHISPERED SUE TO BUNNY.
_Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue on an Auto Tour._ _Page_ 153.]

CHAPTER XVI

IN THE DITCH

For a few seconds the medicine man looked sharply at Mr. Brown. He did
not appear to understand what the children's father had asked. Then,
finally, Dr. Perry asked:

"Is it a joke you are making?"

"No, indeed. I'm serious," said Mr. Brown. "We are looking for a lost
boy, or rather, a runaway boy, named Fred Ward. The Wards live next door
to us, and when we started on this trip, which is not yet finished, the
boy's parents said they would be glad if we would try to find him and
send him----"

"Tell us, please," broke in Bunny, unable to wait any longer for the
question he wanted answered. "Tell us if your banjo player is really
colored?"

"Oh yes, he's really _colored_ all right," said the medicine man, "but
not by Mother Nature."

"What's that mean?" asked Sue.

"That means, little girl," said Dr. Perry as he put away the unsold
bottles of his medicine, "that my banjo player blackens his face and
hands himself, and reddens his lips, to make him look like a negro."

"Can you tell us who he really is?"

"No, I am sorry to say I can not," said Dr. Perry, and he bowed
respectfully to Mrs. Brown, who had asked the question. "But I'll let
you ask him yourself. He usually goes in back there," and he nodded
toward his wagon, "to wash the black off after the show each night. No
doubt he is in there now scrubbing himself, for I must say he is a very
clean person, is John Lane."

"John Lane! Is that what he calls himself?" asked Mr. Brown.

"He has since he has been with me, which, however, is only the last few
days. I called him professor just for fun, as it sounds better with the
public. But I'll let you ask him yourself. He must be through washing by
now. It may be he is a runaway boy. It wouldn't be the first time I've
had 'em join me. Sometimes they get sorry and run back home again, and
sometimes they drift away and I don't see 'em again. But we'll soon find
out if this is the boy you want."

He opened a door leading off the back platform. It seemed to give
admittance to the middle of the medicine van.

"Here you, John! John Lane!" called Dr. Perry. "There are some folks out
here who want to see you. They want to see how you look when you have
the black off. You ought to be washed now, for it's almost time to go to
the hotel for the night. Come on out."

There was no answer to the medicine man's call. He stepped inside the
wagon, called again, and then, lighting a lamp, which stood in a
bracket, looked around inside the van.

"John seems to have gone," the medicine man said. "I guess he finished
washing off the black, and then slipped out the front way to go to the
hotel. He did that once before, without waiting for me to count up my
money and come along. You see I travel only by day, putting up the
horse, that draws my van, at a hotel stable each night.

"Then John, or whomever I have with me to make the music to draw a
crowd, and I, go to the hotel to stay all night. In the morning, after
breakfast, we start out again. Sometimes, in a big city I stay a week,
selling in different places.

"But that boy, whoever he is, has gone. I can see where he's been
washing the black off, and, not wanting to wait when he saw I was
talking to you folks, I guess he just slipped away. John is a bashful
boy."

"Do you know anything about him?" asked Mr. Brown. "Where did he come
from, and where is he going? Did he give any account of himself?"

"Not much, except that he came to me the other day just after my violin
player left me. I had to have somebody musical to draw the crowd, and he
surely can play the banjo.

"So I hired him. He said his name was Lane and that he had to make his
own way in the world. Said he wanted to be a player in a theater.

"I told him my place was a sort of open-air theater and ought to suit
him," said Dr. Perry with a smile, "and he said he thought he would
like it. So I engaged him and he did very well. You are the first
persons that have inquired about him."

"We are not sure he _is_ the runaway Fred we are looking for," said Mr.
Brown. "It is hard to tell with all that black he had on. But I should
like to meet him."

"Go to the hotel any time between now and morning," suggested the
medicine man. "I guess the boy will be glad to talk to you."

"I'll see him in the morning," said Bunny's father. "I'd like to get
this boy to go home, if he is really Fred Ward. His mother and father
miss him very much."

"I'll do all I can for you," promised the medicine man. "Come to the
hotel in the morning and I'll let you talk to him. I won't say anything
in the meanwhile, because if he is really Fred, and has run off as you
say, he won't want to meet you or go back with you. It's best to take
him unawares."

Mr. Brown agreed to this, and then, with his wife and Bunny and Sue,
started for the "Ark." On the way they discussed what had happened.
They saw the medicine man, as they turned down the curve in the road,
driving his horse and van toward the hotel.

"I'm sure it's Fred," said Sue.

"So am I," added Bunny. "Won't it be _great_ if we find him so soon?"

"It may not be the missing boy," said Mr. Brown. "But we'll know in the
morning."

Those in the "Ark" passed a quiet night, though they went to bed later
than usual because of the excitement of the evening. Uncle Tad was
interested in hearing the news about the blackened-up banjo player who
might prove to be Fred Ward.

"And how's Fluffy, our squirrel?" asked Sue.

"Fast asleep, just as Dix and Splash are," answered Uncle Tad.

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